Does it Work? News Channel 7 Tests Out The Instyler

Ladies, for those of you who are tired of spending upwards of 30 minutes getting your hair ready in the morning, a product called "The Instyler" may have caught your eye.

It promises to straighten curly hair in minutes.  But does it work?

We asked Kelley Byrd to help us put it to the test.   The Spartanburg mother spends 45 minutes every day drying, rolling and straightening her natural curls. 

"I have a busy life, children, job, school so I want to get out the door as fast as possible so I'm hoping it will cut down that hair time," said Byrd. 

The directions say the hair should be free of product and combed, work in layers and use strands that are two inches thick for curly hair, three for fine.

Spartanburg Hairstylist Mary Turner also helped to assess how well it works versus the flat iron. 

On the first run-through of Byrd's hair, here's her take: "It's working pretty fast. It's not frizzy at all," said Turner.

But what about when it's up against a conventional straight iron

Kelly does her own comparison.  She notes; the straight iron is a two step juggling process since she must comb each strand to prevent clumps, whereas The Instyler has a built in brush of sorts, so she doesn't have to juggle.

"Yeah, much better than the straightener," she said, referring to The Instyler.

"I like being able to grab a hold of it, and then just let it go. I don't have to hold the strands out," she says. 

Now for those of you with straight hair, The Instyler promises to curl it, but unlike a curling iron, it says to wrap the hair around the cylinder and hold that for 5 to ten seconds. 

Our testers had some difficulty with this and even burnt a finger. 

"It's not what a curling iron would do, I don't think," said Turner.

The Instyler also didn't fair well when it comes to giving straight hair more body - as shown on the ads.

But as far as straightening curly hair, Byrd is a big fan.

"I would give it top ratings.  I'm very pleased," said Byrd.

But before you go ordering The Instyler, we should note, it'll cost you.  At three payments of $39.99 plus shipping and handling and the quick startup option, the bill came to $159.91.

Turner says the price is about $50 higher than a good quality straightener. 

Byrd says it does a lot more and is worth it.

We should note that The Instyler worked best when it was used to straighten curly hair.  It was not as successful in giving body or lift to straight hair. 

We made several attempts to contact the makers of The Instyler directly.  Customer service representatives said the corporate office was not making any comments about the product.